| Abstract: |
Amino acid analysis and analytical pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) were used to compare the states of preservation of protein, particularly collagen, recovered from human `bog bodies' found in Lindow Moss, UK and Drenthe, The Netherlands with Nubian mummy skins recovered from Northern Sudan. Fresh human skin from an autopsy was used for comparison with ancient tissues. Quantitative amino acid analysis by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) suggested that the collagen of the ancient samples is well preserved, with amino acid distributions of ancient skin samples being virtually identical to those of fresh skin. The most abundant amino acids observed were glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, alanine and arginine. A comparison of the pyrolysates of ancient and modern skins revealed that the most abundant 2,5-diketopiperazines, characteristic of proteins, corresponded to the amino acid distributions observed by HPLC. In the case of the bog body skins pyrolysis products derived from the surrounding peat were detectable, i.e. sphagnum acid. Scanning electron micrographs showed that morphological preservation paralleled the high quality biomolecular preservation.
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